derstood and caricatured by those who reject it. Physical science renders it exceedingly probable, if not certain, that our globe was, a few million of years ago, at a red heat, and there could not have been upon it at that time, any organized life. At some time, life began upon the planet, and there seems to be no valid objection to supposing that it may have begun at various points, and under various forms, which is all that is meant by saying that the different classes of organized beings were special creations. If the globe, cooling down from red heat, became inhabitable, and inhabited by organized beings, first at the poles, there is no reason apparent why the Galapagos Islands, rising in the form of red hot lava, in the midst of the Pacific, should not, as they cooled down, have become the abode of plants and animals, in precisely the same manner in which Northern Greenland had, millions of years earlier, undergone the same change. There is no magical power in millions of years to make a thing credible; if it is really incredible at hundreds of thousands of years back.

If we include man himself in our conception of a country, it is evident that we are to take account of him as among the most influential elements. Man acts upon his fellowman in a great variety of ways, affecting his neighbor's health of body and his mind and character also. One of the most glaring methods in which this influence is exerted is by political gov ernment. The great degradation of Palestine is attributed largely to political causes. The government imposes heavy taxes; the tax gatherers oppress and rob the people; the officers of the law do not protect men from private injustice; there is no stimulus or encouragement to industry or to any noble and manly action. On the continent of Europe the governments in the main protect the person and the property of the subjects, and encourage literature and science among them. But they discourage all interest in public affairs, the

people themselves having but a slight voice in directing the course of public action. In England, the people's judgment on public affairs has much greater weight in determining the policy of the government, and the Queen and the nobility are constrained much more by public opinion. This encourages more intelligent attention to the higher themes of social science among the people. In New England, so far as the original town meetings, district schools and congregational churches are retained, we have the highest stimulus given to individual development. Wherever those three little democ racies still flourish, every man in the community is encouraged to take part, if he chooses, by discussion in open meeting, of all public questions. This participation of all the people in the government remains through universal suffrage greater in all parts of the United States, even in our cities, than it is in England. It is, therefore, manifest that the educational effect of the forms of government increases as we proceed westward from Asia through continental Europe and Great Britain to the United States.

But it is not simply through government that the nation influences the development of the individual man. The life of each individual is modified by the general life of the community in which he lives. We have a distinct, although not easily defined, impression when we say, "The state of civilization, the refinement and culture of a community." This general state of civilization affects even those individuals who apparently take least part in it. It is only the strongest nature that can resist the influence of the atmosphere in which he dwells. The public taste for art, the public standard of morality, the appreciation of generous and noble deeds, and of scholarship,- all these affect, to a greater or less degree, the tone of every individual mind in the commuinty. A man of irrepressible genius may push forward and

accomplish work for which he knows he shall receive no credit whatever from the community in which he lives; but cases of irrepressible genius are exceedingly rare. The gen eral law of political economy is that demand always creates supply, while it is more rarely true that a supply creates a demand.

The practical conclusions, to be drawn from the consideration of the whole subject of the influence of climate and country, can be divided and classified on two bases. We may divide them according to the nature of the influence; whether it is upon the body, the intellectual character, or the moral character. And we may also divide them, as they relate either to our duty towards the community, or our duties with reference to ourselves. Christian faith and modern culture have made public duties prominent in the thoughts of all intelligent men. The study of political economy, and of social science in all directions, is, as it should be, greatly stimulated by philanthropic motives; and leads at once to philanthropic action. The relation between science and its application is always twofold; it has practical questions, that usually suggest investigation into scientific laws; and the discovery of scientific laws leads to new modes of practical action. Florence Nightingale's sanitary work in the Crimean war, and the action of the sanitary commission during our own civil war, were of much more value than the mere temporary relief of a few thousand sufferers. The stimulus of their example, and the truths that were established during their action, have been of benefit to millions; and will continue to benefit millions, in years to come. The establishment of boards of health, in various civilized countries, marks an era of great progress, in the consideration of these questions. They deal, it is true, chiefly but not altogether, with those mysterious influences which are called malarial. The

success which has attended their action, although small compared with the amount of suffering still unrelieved, has been sufficiently great to promise larger results in future. In regard to other influences, more directly affecting the mind and character than the body, we have many modern associations actively engaged in ameliorating the condition of the poor; in cultivating public taste, repressing vice, and fostering intellectual industry and wholesome literature.

Every man should also remember that he has duties in reference to himself; and with respect to the influences of climate and country his duty certainly is to resist, in every possible way, the evil influences; and to put himself, as far as possible, under the best influences. Although it may not be properly said that a man owes any duty to himself, the phrase "our duty to ourselves " very well describes many of the obligations which bind us to serve our Creator and our fellowmen. Indeed, our duties in reference to ourselves may be considered our first and most important duties. It has been very forcibly said, although very quaintly, that the true end of all education is, to enable and induce the scholar to take himself by the nape of his own neck, and force himself to walk in the way in which he should go. This doctrine may be applied to the topic of our present essay. Whatever else a man can do, for the public good, must of course not be neglected; but the first and best thing which he can do is, to set the highest example of integrity and wisdom that he can. By preserving his own health and vigor, of body and mind; resisting the evil influences of the climate and the country; by lifting his own life, as far as his abilities and opportunities will permit, above the average life of the community, he renders them the highest service.

In the larger part of the United States, we suffer from great, and sometimes sudden, variations in temperature. The extreme

effects are manifest in frequent deaths by sunstroke, and in the great mortality following after severe frosts. But undue exposure to heat and cold, and sudden transitions from one State to the other, produce a vast deal of injury both temporary and permanent, in alteration of the constitution, without the sufferer suspecting the real cause. There is a prevalent but erroneous opinion, that men can harden themselves to endure heat and cold, and even to endure sudden changes, without injury. It is true that a man may become accustomed to endure without present suffering; but, nevertheless, his exposure usually affects injuriously his constitutional power to endure future exposures. It is wiser, and therefore it is our duty, to avoid, as much as possible, extremes of every kind. The human frame may be regarded as a machine, or as a mechanical structure; and every machinist knows the mischief done by putting such a structure to severe strains, or by sudden changes of movement. The wisest way to meet extremes, of heat and cold, is by sheltering one's self against them; and adapting the clothing and the daily habit of life to the season. In some parts of the country, it is necessary to adapt the clothing even to the hour of the day. Those who attribute all of the so-called malarial influences merely to peculiar variations of temperature, are, we think, mistaken; but they can, nevertheless, bring forward a great body of facts, to show that such changes are injurious to health; and are to be carefully guarded against. In the almost rainless regions of northern Chili, we met a gentleman, just after a slight sprinkle had fallen, not sufficient to wet the smooth flag-stones of the pavement. In speaking of the climate, he said that had he been caught out, even in so slight a rainfall, he would have changed his clothing immediately; since, in that country, the chill of clothes drying on the body, even